Bookreporter.com Blog Postshttp://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/rss.xml
enJohn Hargrove on How One Amazing Killer Whale Saved His Lifehttp://www.bookreporter.com/blog/2015/03/27/john-hargrove-on-how-one-amazing-killer-whale-saved-his-life
<div class="field">
<h3 class="label">Contributors</h3>
<div class="item"><a href="/contributors/john-hargrove">John Hargrove</a></div>
</div>
<!-- /content-field -->
<p><a href="/authors/john-hargrove" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/Hargrove2.jpg" style="width: 150px; height: 225px; margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px; float: left;" /></a>Over the course of two decades, <a href="http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/john-hargrove" target="_blank">John Hargrove</a> worked with 20 different whales on two continents and at two of SeaWorld&#39;s U.S. facilities. In 2012 he resigned his position with SeaWorld, and currently contributes his expertise to an advocacy movement that is convincing legislators to prohibit keeping killer whales in captivity. Hargrove appeared in the controversial 2013 documentary &quot;Blackfish,&quot; and his book, <a href="http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/beneath-the-surface-killer-whales-seaworld-and-the-truth-beyond-blackfish" target="_blank">BENEATH THE SURFACE: Killer Whales, SeaWorld, and the Truth Beyond Blackfish</a>, is now available. In it, he paints a compelling portrait of killer whales as highly intelligent and social creatures, and argues that SeaWorld&#39;s popular programs are both detrimental to the whales and unsafe for trainers. Here, Hargrove shares his experience with one orca, Takara, with whom he formed a true bond --- and the fascinating story of how she saved his life.</p>
<!--break-->
<hr />
<p><br />
My orca training career spanned two decades, two continents and work with 20 different killer whales. But none has been as close to my heart as Takara. As I relate in my book, <a href="http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/beneath-the-surface-killer-whales-seaworld-and-the-truth-beyond-blackfish" target="_blank">BENEATH THE SURFACE: Killer Whales, SeaWorld, and the Truth Beyond Blackfish</a>, she was at the center of an incident that was both one of the worst things to have happened to me --- but also proof that my relationship with her was one of the best things that any human being could experience. It was my evidence that there can be a true meeting of the hearts and minds of two vastly distinct, extremely social and highly intelligent species.</p>
<p>If any orca is SeaWorld royalty, it is Takara. She is the daughter of Kasatka, the dominant female of SeaWorld San Diego. Killer whale societies are matriarchal --- and so when you are the daughter of the dominant female, you are more than a princess. You are like a warrior princess. Takara and her mother would enforce their will on the rest of the whales of the park by physical strength --- even though they weren&rsquo;t the biggest whales --- or by force of will. Among the trainers, Kasatka had a reputation as one of the more difficult and most dangerous orcas to work with. But she allowed me to be close to her and I learned to love her --- and her daughter.</p>
<p><a href="/reviews/beneath-the-surface-killer-whales-seaworld-and-the-truth-beyond-blackfish" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/Beneath2.jpg" style="width: 150px; height: 228px; margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px; float: right;" /></a>One of the saddest consequences of my decision in 2001 to pursue my killer whale career in France was leaving Kasatka and Takara behind. But years later, when I had rejoined SeaWorld in San Antonio, I was overjoyed to discover that Takara was also being reassigned to Texas. She was a reminder of how happy I was working in San Diego with her mother Kasatka. She arrived by a military C-130 transport in 2009 in a big bin of water that required a crane to lift out of the plane and onto an 18-wheeler. I was with the crew that met her and escorted her to the park.</p>
<p>It was a wonderful reunion. She continued to understand the behavioral cues I used to give her in California, even though the trainers in Florida, where she had been moved in the interim, had used different ones. We&rsquo;d have the most terrific time during playtime --- a period when trainers would horseplay with the whales so the orcas wouldn&rsquo;t feel they were stuck and frustrated in repetitive routines. She&rsquo;d throw all sorts of things into the air with delight --- including trainers into adjoining pools. I wanted to feel that perhaps she remembered the relationship we had back in San Diego --- and that, perhaps, I reminded her of the happier days when she was still at her mother&rsquo;s side, before SeaWorld separated them.</p>
<p>I think I got a glimpse into how Takara felt about me when a performance went very wrong. Takara and another whale were supposed to launch me and another trainer, respectively, into the air in a synchronized routine. Unfortunately, the timing was off because the other whale was slower than Takara, who was also more powerful, and so she had to slow down. In the meantime, the loss of momentum caused me to lose my footing on her as we sped toward the surface. I fell forward as we soared into the air, and all 5,000 pounds of her slammed into my side. You can tell from the video recording of the incident that she was trying to avoid hitting me, but it was too late.</p>
<p>Then, as I floated inured on the water, she began circling me, sending out echolocating radar to make sure she knew where I was. Orca echolocation can also tell the whales how injured the object of their radar is. I could hear the waves she emanated --- like the snapping sound of a rubber band. She came to my aid. She responded to my hand signals in the water and pushed me with her pectoral fins toward the side of the pool. And, in a behavior that she was never trained for, gave me the most gentle of pushes and then lifted me so I could make it to the pool&rsquo;s edge. As I wrote in the book, &ldquo;She was aware of how important I was in her life; and she wanted to make sure I would be safe.&rdquo;</p>
<p>My body has never gotten over that injury. But because of it, I know that a whale out there loves me as much as I love her.</p>
<!-- /content-field -->
Fri, 27 Mar 2015 17:09:06 +0000emily120996 at http://www.bookreporter.comJournalist Bethanne Patrick Reports on the Virginia Festival of the Bookhttp://www.bookreporter.com/blog/2015/03/26/journalist-bethanne-patrick-reports-on-the-virginia-festival-of-the-book
<div class="field">
<h3 class="label">Contributors</h3>
<div class="item"><a href="/contributors/bethanne-patrick">Bethanne Patrick</a></div>
</div>
<!-- /content-field -->
<p>Journalist&nbsp;<a href="http://www.readinggroupguides.com/contributors/bethanne-patrick" target="_blank">Bethanne Patrick</a>, one of Flavorwire&#39;s &ldquo;35 Writers Who Run the Literary Internet,&quot; tweets as <a href="https://twitter.com/thebookmaven" target="_blank">@TheBookMaven</a> and began the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/fridayreads" target="_blank">#FridayReads</a> book discovery meme. Bethanne received her MA in English from the University of Virginia and lived in Charlottesville twice; she has been involved with the Virginia Festival of the Book since 2000 and regularly moderates its Agents Panel. She also was on a panel about book groups, which had a wonderful turnout! The veteran attendee was kind enough to share her experience at the event this year, including her favorite panel and the most surprising thing she learned.</p>
<!--break--><!--break--><hr />
<p><strong>The Book Report Network:&nbsp;How many times have you attended the Virginia Festival of the Book?</strong></p>
<p> <strong>Bethanne Patrick: </strong>A great question! I think, at this point, at least 10 times.</p>
<p> <strong>TBRN: How did this year&rsquo;s event compare to other years?</strong></p>
<p> <strong>BP: </strong>The attendance seemed to be down a bit --- but there are so many factors affecting both overall attendance and my perspective that it&#39;s hard to say if that&#39;s an accurate statement.</p>
<p> <strong> TBRN</strong>: <strong>You moderated a panel. What can you tell us about that?</strong></p>
<p> <strong>BP: </strong>I was on one panel about book clubs, and moderated another: the Agents Panel. It&#39;s my third or fourth time moderating that panel!</p>
<p> <strong>TBRN</strong>: <strong>Was there one author you were particularly excited about meeting? If so, share with us something about that.</strong></p>
<p> <strong>BP: </strong>I wish I&rsquo;d had time to meet more authors, but I was delighted to meet <a href="http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/linda-tirado" target="_blank">Linda Tirado</a>, author of <a href="http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/hand-to-mouth-living-in-bootstrap-america" target="_blank">HAND TO MOUTH: My Life in Bootstrap America</a>. I think her message of how hard we have made it to climb out of poverty is relevant and powerful.</p>
<p> <strong>TBRN: What were some of the event highlights for you?</strong></p>
<p> <strong>BP: </strong>I didn&#39;t get to attend too much this year, but it was wonderful seeing all of the people gathered in the atrium of the Omni Hotel for Publishing Day.</p>
<p> <strong>TBRN: Was there anything you learned during an author talk or a panel that</strong><strong> surprised you?</strong></p>
<p> <strong>BP: </strong>During the Agents Panel that I moderated, I was surprised to learn that personal referrals make such a difference. If you&#39;re an aspiring author and you can get an agented author to recommend you, you should do it!</p>
<p> <strong>TBRN: We noticed that there was a sizable &quot;Crime Wave&quot; author turnout at the</strong><strong> festival. What do you think it is about this particular event that draws lovers of that genre?</strong></p>
<p> <strong>BP: </strong>There is never any shortage of crime wave participants or attendees, and that&#39;s because mystery/thriller/crime/suspense fiction has something for everyone. If you don&#39;t think you&#39;re a crime fiction aficionado, take another look at the books on offer --- you will find something that appeals to you.</p>
<p> <strong>TBRN: The festival also includes StoryFest, which is aimed specifically at teens</strong><strong> and kids. Did you get to participate in StoryFest at all? Does that program affect the overall tone of the festival?<br />
</strong><br />
<strong>BP:&nbsp;</strong>&nbsp; I was thrilled to hear from Festival Director Jane Kulow that 2,400 area schoolchildren got to meet&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/kate-dicamillo" target="_blank">Kate DiCamillo</a>. I mean, that is what events like this are for!!!!</p>
<p> <strong>TBRN: Events like this always have so much going on that often you cannot see</strong><strong> everything. What did you wish you had had time to see that you had to miss?</strong></p>
<p> <strong>BP: </strong>Oh my goodness, so so so so much. I wish I could have seen <a href="http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/edwidge-danticat" target="_blank">Edwidge Danticat</a>. I wish I could have attended the Virginia Quarterly Review panel. I wish I could have been at the Beth Macy breakfast! VA Book continues to have awesome programming.</p>
<p> <strong>TBRN: What did you walk away wanting to read most?</strong></p>
<p> <strong>BP: </strong><a href="http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/karin-slaughter" target="_blank">Karin Slaughter</a>&#39;s <a href="http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/cop-town" target="_blank">COP TOWN</a>!!!! I wish I could have seen her in Charlottesville.</p>
<p> <strong>TBRN: Is there anything that would make the Virginia Festival of the Book more</strong><strong> special for you?</strong></p>
<p> <strong>BP: </strong>What a great question! I&#39;d love to have some sort of all-author reception where we could all mingle with wine and soft drinks and get books inscribed...but that might become chaos!</p>
<!-- /content-field -->
Thu, 26 Mar 2015 18:08:59 +0000emily120980 at http://www.bookreporter.comMary Pat Kelly on St. Patrick’s Day and What Being Irish Means to Herhttp://www.bookreporter.com/blog/2015/03/19/mary-pat-kelly-on-st-patricks-day-and-what-being-irish-means-to-her
<!-- /content-field -->
<p><a href="/authors/mary-pat-kelly" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/mary pat.jpg" style="width: 125px; height: 175px; margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px; float: left;" />Mary Pat Kelly</a> knows a thing or two about being Irish American. She wrote <a href="http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/galway-bay" target="_blank">GALWAY BAY</a> about her great-great grandmother, who fled Ireland in the 1840s to avoid starvation. Its sequel, <a href="http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/of-irish-blood" target="_blank">OF IRISH BLOOD</a> --- just published in February --- picks up in the 20th century and examines the next generation living in America. Her enthusiasm extends beyond her work; she participated in not one but <em>three</em> St. Patrick&rsquo;s Day celebrations this year --- in Chicago, Boston and New York City. Talk about the luck of the Irish! Here, Mary Pat shares with us a bit about those experiences and what being Irish in America means to her.</p>
<!--break-->
<hr />
<p>This year, I hit the trifecta --- celebrating St. Patrick&#39;s Day in Chicago, Boston and New York.</p>
<p>Chicago is my home ground. I was born and raised there, and my writing is steeped in the history of my Chicago Irish family. GALWAY BAY is centered on the life of my great-great grandmother, Honora Keeley Kelly, who escaped with her children from the Great Starvation of 1840s Ireland. The sequel, titled OF IRISH BLOOD, looks at the next generation of Irish who were born in this country in the early 20th century.</p>
<p>I thought of my ancestors as I marched in Chicago&rsquo;s two parades --- one downtown along Lake Michigan and the other on the city&rsquo;s South Side. In both, I marched with members of the electricians&rsquo; union. As we passed the crowds, we heard yells of, &ldquo;Hey Sparkies, we&rsquo;re with you!&rdquo; The unions played a central role in the Irish rise from abject poverty to prosperity. Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who&#39;s facing a runoff in his reelection attempt, joined us at the Union Hall after the parade. &ldquo;My son&#39;s middle name is Ireland,&rdquo; he told us, &ldquo;which is my mother-in-law&rsquo;s maiden name. I didn&#39;t realize it would come in so handy.&quot; There was a full complement of politicians at both marches. &ldquo;Why not,&rdquo; I heard a man say. &ldquo;It&#39;s 70 degrees and they&#39;re all running for office.&rdquo;</p>
<p>In Boston, I celebrated in Dedham, where we sang Irish songs at a wonderful bookstore called The Blue Bunny. The New York Parade seemed more formal, especially this year. Cardinal Timothy Dolan led the way, pairing his red hat of office with a shillelagh. I finished the night with the Kelly Gang, a group of Kellys in media, at our annual charity function. This year, we were raising money for the Alzheimer&rsquo;s Association. My St. Patrick&#39;s Day combined all the elements of what it means to be Irish --- celebration, advocacy and charity.</p>
<p>Erin Go Bragh, Ireland forever, to the Irish and those who decided to be Irish on this day.</p>
<div class="field">
<div class="item"><a href="/authors/mary-pat-kelly">Mary Pat Kelly</a></div>
</div>
<!-- /content-field -->
Thu, 19 Mar 2015 17:22:38 +0000emily120593 at http://www.bookreporter.comBookreporter.com Reader Edy Alderson Reports on the Tucson Festival of Bookshttp://www.bookreporter.com/blog/2015/03/16/bookreportercom-reader-edy-alderson-reports-on-the-tucson-festival-of-books
<!-- /content-field -->
<p>This past weekend, March 14 &ndash; 15, the University of Arizona campus was overrun with book lovers of all shapes and sizes, as people gathered to attend the Tucson Festival of Books. With more than 250 exhibitors and new and veteran authors including Lisa See, Deborah Harkness and William Kent Krueger in attendance, there was plenty for attendees to see. Luckily, Bookreporter.com Edy Alderson is an experienced festival-goer, and she was kind enough to navigate the scene for us. Here, Edy shares --- with infectious enthusiasm --- her favorite panels, event highlights, and which book she&rsquo;s most looking forward to reading.</p>
<!--break--><!--break--><hr />
<p><strong>Bookreporter.com: How long have you been attending the Tucson Book Festival?</strong></p>
<p><strong>Edy Alderson: </strong>I have been attending the Tucson Festival of Books since 2009 --- the year it began.&nbsp;Since that first year, my husband and I have developed various strategies for &quot;doing&quot; the festival.&nbsp;Some years we wander; other years we spend the entire two days attending sessions.&nbsp;I only missed one year after I had knee surgery.&nbsp;I think I was in more pain from not attending the book festival than from my surgery!</p>
<p><strong>BRC: How did this year&rsquo;s event compare to other years?&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p><strong>EA: </strong>Even better.&nbsp;Every year the festival improves. It becomes more organized and more efficient.&nbsp;The author choices also vary each year with great favorites returning and new ones coming to share in the excitement.&nbsp;Among the new authors this year were Leonard Pitts, Dave Barry, Amy Tan, Lisa See, Joyce Carol Oates, Hampton Sides, Gail Sheehy, Craig Johnson and Mitch Albom!&nbsp;And many others.&nbsp;There were over 350 authors to choose from!</p>
<p>Science City is a &quot;festival within a festival.&quot;&nbsp;The College of Science at the UA (University of Arizona) is one of the best in the country --- no, I am NOT an alumnus! Science City celebrated Pi Day&nbsp;on Saturday. The entire area promotes science literacy with multitudes of hands-on activities for kids and adults.&nbsp;Eight of the campus science museums/labs were open --- for free --- including the world renowned Steward Mirror Lab where the lenses for the giant telescopes being built in Chile are made. &nbsp;</p>
<p>Also new this year was the availability of teacher credits --- both in the children&#39;s area and in Science City.</p>
<p><strong>BRC: Was there one author you were particularly excited about meeting? If so, share with us something about that.</strong></p>
<p> <strong>EA: </strong>C.J. Box and William Kent Krueger.&nbsp;These gentlemen are two of my favorite male mystery writers.&nbsp;I never thought I would read books in which the protagonist is a man, but these gentlemen have written characters that are so very authentic and compelling. Regular &quot;Joes&quot; as C.J. Box puts it.&nbsp;Krueger does his writing in a coffee shop in St. Paul --- not in some fancy office. Box writes in his basement office --- with dogs and family running around.&nbsp;They make me understand that authors --- even famous ones --- are very real people.&nbsp;And very nice people. Both of them are so appreciative of their colleagues and their fans. &nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>BRC: What were some of the event highlights for you?</strong></p>
<p><strong>EA: </strong>The biggest thrill for me in attending the book festival is the realization that all of these people (well over 100,000 over the two days) are there because of books.&nbsp;Yes, they eat, listen to music at the many entertainment venues, watch the circus, and get wet playing in water experiments in Science City, but it&#39;s BOOKS that bring them there.&nbsp;I was volunteering in one of the information booths&nbsp;on Sunday&nbsp;morning and watched the crowd of people rushing to venues to hear authors and then rushing out to buy their books!&nbsp;The printed word is alive!</p>
<p>I am always excited to get the chance to hear some of my favorite authors, but I also look for new authors I have yet to read.&nbsp;As I was working at the booth, who should walk up looking for information but T. Jefferson Parker!!!!!!&nbsp;I was ecstatic --- and he was so sweet. Later I was talking with a lovely gentleman and his wife.&nbsp;Turns out, he is a local author, and while not yet a &quot;rock star,&quot; he has a unique perspective on the Sonoran desert in which we live.&nbsp;I have already received an email from him and will get together for some history talk.&nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>BRC: Was there one panel that stood out to you? If so, what was it, and why? If there was more than one, feel free to share as many as you like! &nbsp;</strong></p>
<p><strong>EA: </strong>This year I think my favorite panel was one called &quot;Family Dynamics,&quot; with C.J. Box, William Kent Krueger and Ace Atkins. I was intrigued as to how and why they used family as such an important part of their mystery novels and was very impressed with their insights.&nbsp;Not only do the families play important roles in the books, the families grow and change over the years, keeping the protagonist fresh as he needs to grow and change as well. I do think this is why their books appeal so widely to female readers. They all acknowledged that aspect, stating that the new model is quite different from the Bond approach of hard drinking, sex with a different woman every night, hot cars sort of &quot;hero.&quot; &nbsp;All three men are clever, witty and humble.&nbsp;I love hearing authors speak about their writing processes and challenges.&nbsp;The panel was moderated by the terrific Alex Kava! What a treat!</p>
<p><strong>BRC: Was there anything you learned during an author talk or a panel that surprised you?</strong></p>
<p><strong>EA: </strong>Not really. Maybe I&#39;m too old to be surprised by too much any more:))&nbsp;Usually, I&#39;m pleased, amazed or thrilled by things authors do. I&#39;m so impressed with how Betty Webb incorporates Arizona social issues (think&nbsp;DESERT WIVES!!!) into her novels. &nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>BRC: In honor of its 150th anniversary,&nbsp;<em>The Nation</em>&nbsp;magazine held several special programs, including &ldquo;A Conversation with Noam Chomsky.&rdquo; Did you get to attend that? If so, what were your&nbsp;thoughts?&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p><strong>EA: </strong>Unfortunately, I was unable to attend Noam Chomsky&#39;s talk.&nbsp;I can tell you that people were lining up by&nbsp;8:30am&nbsp;for the ticket release at&nbsp;noon!</p>
<p><strong>BRC: Events like this always have so much going on that often you cannot see everything. What did you wish you had had time to see that you had to miss?</strong></p>
<p><strong>EA: </strong>More panels, of course. I never, ever can see all of the ones I want to.&nbsp;I missed Hampton Sides and Leonard Pitts and Craig Johnson.&nbsp;I heard fabulous things about them --- especially the Craig Johnson panel with Rob Taylor and Lou Diamond Phillips!! I&#39;m so sorry that I couldn&#39;t make those.</p>
<p><strong>BRC: What did you walk away wanting to read most?</strong></p>
<p><strong>EA: </strong>FREEMAN by Leonard Pitts.</p>
<p><strong>BRC: Did anyone join you at the event? If so, what were their thoughts about it?&nbsp;</strong></p>
<p><strong>EA: </strong>One of my girlfriends joined me&nbsp;on Saturday.&nbsp;She has been with me at the book festival before.&nbsp;She was impressed by the new ticketing system for five of the largest venues. This helped to avoid much of the LONG wait time for many people. Twenty-five percent of the seats were kept open for general admission. &nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>BRC: Is there anything that would make the Tucson Book Festival more special for you?</strong></p>
<p><strong>EA: </strong>It&#39;s really hard to beat two days of sun, temps in the low 80s, an extraordinarily beautiful campus that is easy to negotiate --- AND books!!!!&nbsp;I guess I would love to see Louise Penny come. &nbsp;</p>
<p><strong>BRC: Feel free to share any other tidbits that made this special for you.</strong></p>
<p><strong>EA: </strong>This is the first time I have spent much time in the children&#39;s area.&nbsp;We have an eight-month-old grandson, and I send him a new book every month.&nbsp;So I spent some time scouting out the children&#39;s space and was so thrilled to see so many happy youngsters curled up with books or picking out books to take home.&nbsp;Hope for the future right there.</p>
<p>As a retired reading specialist, I am so thrilled that the festival has donated over a million dollars to local literacy efforts. This means so very much in any community, but even more in communities where there are so many, many children --- and adults --- in need. Everything begins with reading. &nbsp;</p>
<!-- /content-field -->
Mon, 16 Mar 2015 16:17:30 +0000emily120373 at http://www.bookreporter.comStory Evoking Story: Jonathan Odell on His Journey from Racism to Empathyhttp://www.bookreporter.com/blog/2015/03/03/story-evoking-story-jonathan-odell-on-his-journey-from-racism-to-empathy
<div class="field">
<h3 class="label">Contributors</h3>
<div class="item"><a href="/contributors/jonathan-odell">Jonathan Odell</a></div>
</div>
<!-- /content-field -->
<p><a href="http://www.readinggroupguides.com/authors/jonathan-odell" target="_blank">Jonathan Odell</a>&#39;s deeply moving novel, <a href="http://www.readinggroupguides.com/reviews/miss-hazel-and-the-rosa-parks-league" target="_blank">MISS HAZEL AND THE ROSA PARKS LEAGUE</a> is set in pre-Civil Rights Mississippi. It&#39;s the story of a town, a people and a culture on the verge of a great change that begins with small things, like unexpected friendship. Jonathan himself grew up in Mississippi, and here he shares his journey, as a &quot;recovering racist,&quot; toward a greater empathy and understanding of others who are like and unlike him. Read on for his story, and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnhXHpalEHQ" target="_blank">click here</a> to watch a video where he further explores the issue of race in America.</p>
<!--break--><!--break--><hr />
<p>
Book groups well know the phenomenon of story evoking story. They begin by talking about the book, but end by revealing themselves to each other through their own stories. The author only primes the pump. There is a healing power released in these associations. Readers who have been together for years, through life changes, traumas and joys, often become known better to one another than by anyone else in their lives.</p>
<p>I believe it&rsquo;s why people read novels. Not only to be introduced to new worlds but to sound the depths of their own existences, allowing them to experience their lived lives with a fresh awareness, to access old memories but in a new way. Sometimes to see what was always there, for the very first time. If we could peek into the mind of a reader, we would notice that not only is she listening to the author&rsquo;s story, she is also telling her own story in response. The trick is specificity --- to make the story so rich with sensory and emotive detail that it becomes universal. That&rsquo;s why the Russians and Japanese think that famously Southern Faulkner is writing about them.</p>
<p>For the past month, I&rsquo;ve been on the road doing readings of my new novel, MISS HAZEL AND THE ROSA PARKS LEAGUE. Actually, &ldquo;reading&rdquo; is a misnomer. Mostly, I find reading to groups boring and artificial and a tad condescending. Sometimes I get around to reading, but mostly I tell stories. I can&rsquo;t help it. I still find that&rsquo;s the best way to have an intimate experience with a group of strangers outside of using mind-altering chemicals.</p>
<p>And amazing things have happened. I often tell my stories of growing up in Mississippi during Jim Crow, and how I was taught by those I loved and trusted to be a racist. I go into detail and spare no one, including myself. I don&rsquo;t preach diversity, or engage in moralizing. I just tell the stories as they happened --- or, at least, as I remember them.</p>
<p>The response from whites, even those who grew up in the northern liberal bastions, has been astonishing. Instead of seeing me as some redneck oddity to be shunned, they come to me with their own stories of prejudice and bigotry that they observed growing up or were a part of, but until hearing my story, had never really considered. A woman in Minneapolis told me that she suddenly remembered how her father corrected her as a young girl when she referred to an African American walking on the sidewalk as &ldquo;that lady.&rdquo; He told her not to call her a lady, but a woman.&nbsp; Without being told explicitly, she understood that the title of &ldquo;lady&rdquo; was reserved for people the color of her mother.</p>
<p>Again, there is something about the telling of one&rsquo;s personal story in a non-accusatory way, without an agenda or trying to change someone else, that allows the forgotten stories of the listener to float to the surface of consciousness. It becomes safe to remember.</p>
<p>The response from African Americans has been even more gratifying. They tell me when they hear me tell honestly of my racism, they feel free to allow their own stories to surface and often reshape their own memories. Who would have thought that me, a recovering racist, talking about his struggles, past and present, would come as a <em>relief</em> to those who feel they are still the victims of racism? It seems a paradox.</p>
<p>But I believe the same phenomenon is at play. After a &ldquo;reading&rdquo; at a Georgia library, a young black man came up to me, a senior in high school. He had tears in his eyes. As I usually do, I fear that I have said something that was too raw, something that was hurtful to him. I have gone too far this time, I tell myself, I should just keep my big Mississippi mouth shut and do the politically correct thing.</p>
<p>He held his hand out. &ldquo;I&rsquo;ve never heard a white man talk about his own racism before. I just never understood. I feel like I know you. So much makes sense to me now. It&rsquo;s strange. I even understand my parents better. My own people.&rdquo;</p>
<p>He was as mystified as I.</p>
<p>In Atlanta, where I was invited to address a book group sponsored by the mayor at city hall, the white mother of a bi-racial boy said because of hearing the story of a white man, somebody who represented the kind of person whom she believed most threatened the well-being of her child, she now understood her own son better, and the world that he must navigate.</p>
<p>Upon reflection, what this young man and this mother taught me was the ultimate transformative possibility of story. For some of us who are separated by seemingly unbridgeable divides like race, sexual orientation and ethnicity, we play stock roles in each other&rsquo;s stories. We project our fears and anxieties onto each other. We are convenient foils for each other&rsquo;s narratives that confirm our comfortable belief systems. But when we finally connect intimately with another&rsquo;s story, our own story changes. The way we view the world, and ourselves in that world, is never the same. We are expanded.</p>
<p>When we allow the truth of another&rsquo;s story to enter our lives, we are transformed.</p>
<!-- /content-field -->
Tue, 03 Mar 2015 22:54:25 +0000emily120046 at http://www.bookreporter.comBookreporter.com Reader Nancy Bader Talks About the Savannah Book Festivalhttp://www.bookreporter.com/blog/2015/02/20/bookreportercom-reader-nancy-bader-talks-about-the-savannah-book-festival
<div class="field">
<h3 class="label">Contributors</h3>
<div class="item"><a href="/contributors/nancy-bader">Nancy Bader</a></div>
</div>
<!-- /content-field -->
<p>The <a href="http://www.savannahbookfestival.org/" target="_blank">Savannah Book Festival</a> took place last weekend, from Thursday, February 12th through Sunday, February 15th. The Festival is a free annual event that celebrates the written word and its role in the human experience. Lucky for us, Bookreporter.com reader Nancy Bader attended the event and was kind enough to share with us some highlights, including favorite panels, most colorful speaker, and the books she absolutely cannot wait to read.</p>
<!--break--><!--break--><hr />
<p>This was the eighth year for the Savannah Book Festival. It runs for four days, always over Presidents Day Weekend. There are three paid events: the kickoff speaker&nbsp;on Thursday&nbsp;(this year was Janet Evanovich, the first woman kickoff ever); the keynote&nbsp;on Friday&nbsp;(P.J. O&#39;Rourke); and closing speakers on Sunday (Anne and Christopher Rice).&nbsp;Saturday&nbsp;is &quot;Free Day&quot; --- there are nearly 40 authors in six venues in the Historic District.</p>
<p>Sessions run from&nbsp;9am to 5pm. Authors have a one-hour slot for speaking and Q&amp;A. According to their contracts, they&#39;re supposed to speak, not read from their book. Then they sign books. Only books bought at the Festival or through the Festival website link are eligible for signing. Criteria for presenting authors is that they have a new book out within the past year. There&#39;s fiction and nonfiction, bestselling and emerging authors, national and local. C-SPAN films the nonfiction, and has called the Savannah Book Festival one of the best book festivals in the country.</p>
<p>This year, I attended different days with different people. A girlfriend for Janet Evanovich. My book club for O&#39;Rourke --- for the past four years, my book club has ushered for the keynote speaker. On Free Day, I went with a friend, but we went our own way and then hooked up for lunch.</p>
<p>There are always glitches. Last year, several authors couldn&#39;t get out of the Northeast because of a major storm. This year, Linda Fairstein and Colleen Hoover had family crises, Vicki Constantine Croke (ELEPHANT COMPANY) comes from Boston and her pipes burst and her house flooded so she canceled. One thing that went off without a hitch ---&nbsp;Saturday&nbsp;Free Day was also Valentine&#39;s Day. During the Q&amp;A with Elin Hilderbrand (WINTER STREET), she offered the last question to a young man in the audience, who used it to propose to his girlfriend. &quot;You did say &#39;yes,&#39; didn&#39;t you?&quot; Elin asked, and then presented the young woman with a bouquet of roses.</p>
<p>The most colorful character was definitely David Ritz (RESPECT: The Life of Aretha Franklin), dressed in red and orange from head to toe, including orange sneakers.</p>
<p>Some points of note: Janet Evanovich (THE JOB) started off writing romance novels. It took 10 years to get her first novel published. She looks great. Her secret: &quot;surgery.&quot; Hers is a true family operation. Her son and daughter both work with her, eat lunch with her and live at home. Her husband plays golf. What&#39;s changed since she wrote those racy romance novels? &quot;There&#39;s only so many words you can use for sex scenes. We used to say &#39;his manhood.&#39; Now it&#39;s [nickname for Richard].&quot;</p>
<p>P.J. O&#39;Rourke (THE BABY BOOM), the NPR conservative humorist, has been credited with creating new words, or transforming one part of speech into another. His latest contribution: &quot;All news reporters have Brian Williams&#39;d. I mean, we&#39;ve all lied.&quot;</p>
<p>David McCullough, Jr. (YOU ARE NOT SPECIAL) was my favorite. This unassuming gentleman, whose Wellesley, MA, high school commencement speech has gone viral with more than two million YouTube views, calls himself &quot;the high school teacher who got hit by lightning.&quot; His presentation (and book) expanded on his theory that kids should be encouraged to do things for passion and not just to meet their parents&#39; expectations to succeed. &quot;What I&#39;m really saying is you don&#39;t have to be special. There&#39;s nothing wrong with being average.&quot;</p>
<p>Christopher Scotton (THE SECRET WISDOM OF THE EARTH) took 15 years to write this debut novel, saying &quot;life got in the way of my dreams.&quot; He finally had his epiphany (over a bottle of red wine in Tuscany) and started writing. When he was done, the book sold in two days. Describing the book&#39;s characters, he notes that Pops, the grandfather figure, &quot;is the grandfather we all wish we had, the grandfather I hope to be.&quot; One note of interest for readers: Scotton said he loves to Skype with book clubs. &quot;It&#39;s so much more fun than running a software company.&quot; A cute note: Of the six venues used for the Book Festival, three are church sanctuaries. Scotton spoke in the Baptist Church. He described himself as a &quot;singing Baptist,&quot; and, speaking from the pulpit, he looked up and said he hoped God wasn&#39;t going to see him on the altar and strike him down for his sins.</p>
<p>Hilderbrand writes about Nantucket, where she lives part of the year. She writes longhand in notebooks, then puts it into her computer. When asked if her characters are based on real people, she answers, &quot;Fiction is crafted. It has a beginning, a middle and an end, and makes sense. When fiction takes over, you lose the real people.&quot;</p>
<p>The last speaker I heard was Dr. Sandeep Jauhar (DOCTORED: The Disillusionment of an American Physician), a practicing cardiologist whose premise is that American medicine is in a midlife crisis for which there is no simple solution. &quot;Health care accounts for $1 out of every $6 spent in the US. It is a gargantuan system that affects all of our lives --- doctors and patients --- and no one is happy with it.&quot;</p>
<p>McCullough and Scotton were definitely my favorite panelists. I wasn&rsquo;t able to attend every panel, and I wish I could have gone to the ones for Karen Abbott, Patton Oswalt, Gail Sheehy, Greg Iles, Patti Callahan Henry and John Katzenbach.</p>
<p> All things said and done, the books I&rsquo;m looking forward to reading most are THE STORIES WE TELL by Patti Callahan Henry, RED 1-2-3 by John Katzenbach, THE SAME SKY by Amanda Eyre Ward and ELEPHANT COMPANY by Vicki Croke. I&#39;ve already read THE SECRET WISDOM OF THE EARTH by Christopher Scotton (I&rsquo;m leading my book group&rsquo;s discussion on it in April), LIAR, TEMPTRESS, SOLDIER, SPY by Karen Abbott and DOCTORED by Sandeep Jauhar.</p>
<!-- /content-field -->
Fri, 20 Feb 2015 21:11:46 +0000emily119587 at http://www.bookreporter.comLynne Hinton on All That Glittershttp://www.bookreporter.com/blog/2015/01/01/lynne-hinton-on-all-that-glitters
<!-- /content-field -->
<p><a href="/authors/lynne-hinton" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/Untitled_36.png" style="height: 152px; width: 150px; margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px; float: left;" /></a>Not only is <a href="http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/lynne-hinton" target="_blank">Lynne Hinton</a> a <em>New York Times </em>bestselling author, she&rsquo;s also a former hospice chaplain and church pastor. Her latest book, <a href="http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/sister-eve-private-eye-a-divine-private-detective-agency-mystery" target="_blank">SISTER EVE, PRIVATE EYE</a>, is the first in Lynne&rsquo;s <em>Divine Private Detective Agency </em>mystery series --- where God is not the only thing that&rsquo;s mysterious. In this season&#39;s last Holiday Author Blog, Lynne shares a more solemn holiday story from her time as hospice chaplain: a story of grief and hope; brokenness and unity; and some ill-chosen, well-intentioned gold glitter that unexpectedly illuminated a somber memorial service.</p>
<!--break-->
<hr />
<p><br />
<em>January 2013</em></p>
<p>It was a gathering of the broken, the bereaved, the sorrowful, coming together for a simple holiday service. As the chaplain for hospice, it seemed important to offer a time of remembrance for members of the families of our deceased patients, a chance to say that, in light of their recent loss, we acknowledge that for them this is no season of happy holidays.</p>
<p><a href="/reviews/sister-eve-private-eye-a-divine-private-detective-agency-mystery" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/sister eye.jpg" style="width: 150px; height: 229px; margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px; float: right;" /></a></p>
<p>We lit a candle, rang a bell, said prayers and called out the names of the dead. A few words of comfort were shared, silence, a little piano music and the giving of small gifts, tree ornaments, doves, the symbol of peace, which were made of rigid green wire and covered in a thin layer of gold glitter.</p>
<p>I had not thought too much about the consequences of giving out things coated in glitter. It had not occurred to me that the decoration was flimsy and would spread from fingers to hair to cheeks and fronts of blouses. But spread it did. So after the service, after the sharing of butter cookies and cups of hot cider, handshakes, the gentle conversations, the reunion of beloved hospice staff and the bereaved family members, all of us sparkled with gold glitter. All of us were altered and yet also the same, marked by our grief, marked by our brokenness, marked with tiny lines of glistening gold glitter.</p>
<p>Seeing everyone shining that way touched me. We are all broken, after all. We all face loss; we all grieve. We all deal with disappointment and sadness, often forgetting that, as we walk, we do so among the wounded. We are all stumbling forward the best we can, and it is, I believe, because of our brokenness that we can share the sorrow and grief of others. It is in our own frail attempts to move beyond the sadness that we are able to see so many others struggling beside us. And somehow, the sharing of this commonality brings us a measure of peace, of hope, a silver lining in the dark and overwhelming bank of clouds that cover us. Or, as it was this hospice memorial service on this recent mild December day in a little town in western New Mexico, tiny lines of gold glitter marking us all as one.</p>
<!-- /content-field -->
Holiday Author Blogs 2014Thu, 01 Jan 2015 16:45:32 +0000emily117648 at http://www.bookreporter.comJennifer S. Holland on the Best Book She Ever Gothttp://www.bookreporter.com/blog/2015/01/01/jennifer-s-holland-on-the-best-book-she-ever-got
<!-- /content-field -->
<p><a href="/authors/jennifer-s-holland" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/Untitled_35.png" style="float: left; width: 150px; height: 147px; margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px;" /></a><a href="http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/jennifer-s-holland" target="_blank">Jennifer S. Holland</a>&rsquo;s deep love for animals is apparent in all her work: bestsellers UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIPS, UNLIKELY LOVES and, most recently, <a href="http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/unlikely-heroes-37-inspiring-stories-of-courage-and-heart-from-the-animal-kingdom" target="_blank">UNLIKELY HEROES</a>, which includes 37 amazing stories about the inspiring heroism of animals. Also apparent is her deep love for writing. Here, Jennifer shares that, although she was thrilled to get all kinds of books when she was a kid, the best book she ever got was one with blank pages inside it.</p>
<!--break-->
<hr />
<p><br />
New books, when I was a kid, were better than candy. I remember in fourth grade, once a month, we&rsquo;d get an order form with a list of new titles on it, and we could pick whatever we wanted to buy. At home, Mom would write out the check and sign in her perfectly neat script, and I&rsquo;d deliver that prize to Ms. Elkhammer (later Mrs. Vitantonio) the next day. Then, one thrilling day soon, we&rsquo;d come to class to see those brown boxes stacked by the teacher&rsquo;s desk. When Ms. E/Mrs. V called your name, you could go up and help her assemble your precious stack. The smell of the new books, their covers unmarred and smooth pages still bound up tight, gave them such promise. I loved those days. I couldn&rsquo;t wait to get home and start reading.</p>
<p><a href="/reviews/unlikely-heroes-37-inspiring-stories-of-courage-and-heart-from-the-animal-kingdom" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/unlikely heroes.jpg" style="width: 150px; height: 171px; margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px; float: right;" /></a>Holidays were also a time of books. I remember at an early birthday ripping open SWIMMY and THE STORY OF FERDINAND; at another WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS; still later it would be two or three <em>Nancy Drew</em> mysteries and THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH, and finally the young-adult favorites that we simply called &ldquo;the Judy Blumes.&rdquo; Something I did then that I don&rsquo;t do now is read a book over and over and over again, until I could recite passages and tell you on what page a certain thing happened. (Confession: When I graduated to Blume&rsquo;s FOREVER, it was the pages with sex scenes that stuck in my mind. I think I could still turn to them. Page 85 definitely had something racy on it. Page 112, too, perhaps.)</p>
<p>But most memorable was a book my grandmother gave me when I was around nine years old. It was a book with lines but no words. A blank slate. I think it had a pink-flowered vinyl cover, the smell of which I can conjure up but not quite describe. Hot, sweet, dusty, plastic, maybe? Something like that. She knew I liked to write short stories --- mostly slightly mystical, overwrought fiction that, I suppose for my age, wasn&rsquo;t too horrible --- and she was always my biggest fan, asking to read the latest and then raving about it to my mother. She wanted me to keep it up. So, this was <em>my </em>book, where <em>my </em>stories would live, she said. There was probably a pretty colored pen, too. The book, though, was the thing. Like those books ordered at school, it smelled special and held great promise. My promise.</p>
<p>And I remember my grandmother telling me something very specific after I opened the package with the empty diary inside. She said, &ldquo;Keep filling those pages with stories and ideas and someday you&rsquo;ll be writing articles for <em>National Geographic</em>.&rdquo; Really. She said that. When I was nine.</p>
<p>Sadly, she died before her prediction came to pass. But somehow, I think she knows she was right.</p>
<!-- /content-field -->
Holiday Author Blogs 2014Thu, 01 Jan 2015 05:00:00 +0000emily117645 at http://www.bookreporter.comJudy Chicurel: The Book I Accidentally Gave Myselfhttp://www.bookreporter.com/blog/2014/12/31/judy-chicurel-the-book-i-accidentally-gave-myself
<!-- /content-field -->
<p><a href="/authors/judy-chicurel" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/judy.png" style="width: 150px; height: 152px; margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px; float: left;" /></a>Not only is <a href="http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/judy-chicurel" target="_blank">Judy Chicurel</a> an esteemed playwright, her debut collection of short stories, <a href="http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/if-i-knew-you-were-going-to-be-this-beautiful-i-never-would-have-let-you-go" target="_blank">IF I KNEW YOU WERE GOING TO BE THIS BEAUTIFUL, I NEVER WOULD HAVE LET YOU GO</a>, was published earlier this year. The coming-of-age stories are set in 1972 in a working-class Long Island community, and capture the universal experience of being poised between the past and the future. Here, Judy tells a different coming-of-age story --- one that is lovely, heartbreaking and entirely personal --- about one difficult holiday season and how a book saw her through it.</p>
<!--break-->
<hr />
<p>When I was 17 and a senior in high school, a friend died seven days before Christmas. She was 18 years old, her death was sudden and shocking, and the first many of us had experienced. There is never a good season for loss, but the barrage of winking, blinking lights from every window, jolly Santas ho-ho-hoing from every corner, and Christmas carols blaring from radios and loudspeakers everywhere seemed almost to mock our collective grief.</p>
<p>That Christmas Eve, I went to the library in our small town to find a book that would carry me through the holidays. The library was my private sanctuary; I used to hide out in the room where the old men sat reading <em>The</em> <em>New York Times.</em> It was a somewhat nerdy pastime that nursed my secret loneliness, one that I kept from my friends; this wasn&rsquo;t too difficult because most of them wouldn&rsquo;t frequent the library unless they had school reports due, and if I ran into anyone I could always say I was working on my own assignments. It comforted me, sinking into a soft leather chair, sitting in a room filled with people who looked like my grandparents, losing myself in someone else&rsquo;s world until the warning lights dimmed for the 5:00 closing.</p>
<p><a href="/reviews/if-i-knew-you-were-going-to-be-this-beautiful-i-never-would-have-let-you-go" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/if i knew you.jpg" style="width: 150px; height: 225px; margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px; float: right;" /></a></p>
<p>That Christmas Eve afternoon the library was closing early, so I scanned the shelves quickly, searching for something to take my mind off of everything. I came across a brightly colored book jacket that read MY SWEET ORANGE TREE<em>, </em>by Jose Mauro De Vasconcelos. I had never before heard of the book, or of Mr. De Vasconcelos; to this day, I wonder how the book found its way to my hometown library, as global literature had yet to make its emergence. All I knew was that the cover looked whimsical, and the title hinted at a light-hearted read; after scanning the first few pages, it seemed the perfect escape from this difficult holiday season.</p>
<p>At 2:00 on Christmas morning, I was weeping inconsolably in my bedroom, having finished MY SWEET ORANGE TREE in less than a day. Charming, funny, fanciful, poignant and, finally, heartbreaking, the story focuses on Zeze, a five-year-old Brazilian boy, the youngest of his family, whose parents display both haphazard affection and casual brutality towards their offspring as they scramble through their impoverished existence. But nothing can crush Zeze&rsquo;s resilience as he finds ways to illuminate his small life: sharing food with a destitute young girl, shunned by other children; stealing flowers to give the ugliest teacher in his school; shining shoes to earn enough to bring his father a pack of cigarettes for Christmas, though he himself receives nothing. Overlooked at home except by one older sister, Zeze forges a friendship with the straggly orange tree in the family&rsquo;s yard that he dismisses at first as too small to climb, which ultimately provides the perfect outlet for his vivid imagination. But it&rsquo;s his friendship with Portuga, a wealthy older man in town who takes an interest in Zeze, that promises the love and salvation you keep hoping will find him.</p>
<p>After reading the final page, I felt momentarily betrayed, finally believing the old adage &ldquo;Never judge a book by its cover,&rdquo; which in this case seemed to promise a more insouciant read, not something that would reinforce my sense of loss and loneliness. But over that week, I found myself returning to the book again and again. And from time to time during the strange year that followed, I would read it at the library, ensconced in my leather chair that faced away from the windows. Because of De Vasconcelos&rsquo; deceptively simple, almost childlike style, which brilliantly befit this captivating young narrator, the full force of the desolation in which Zeze lived didn&rsquo;t fully register the first time around; neither had the impact of his indomitable spirit, which, despite deprivation that no five-year-old should have to endure, helped him to rise up and sing another day, to nurture his dream of becoming a poet who wears a bowtie, to care for his sweet orange tree. Even after closing the book for the final time, I still believed in Zeze&rsquo;s ability to overcome obstacles, to breathe fierce life into his dreams so that they would be realized.</p>
<p>That was the gift that Zeze and his sweet orange tree gave me. Because if he could do it, so could the rest of us. So could I.</p>
<!-- /content-field -->
Holiday Author Blogs 2014Wed, 31 Dec 2014 21:46:24 +0000emily117587 at http://www.bookreporter.comCindy Copeland: Really Important Stuff Strong Women Have Taught Mehttp://www.bookreporter.com/blog/2014/12/31/cindy-copeland-really-important-stuff-strong-women-have-taught-me
<!-- /content-field -->
<p><a href="/authors/cynthia-copeland" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/Untitled_34.png" style="height: 172px; width: 150px; margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px; float: left;" /></a>Award-winning author/illustrator <a href="http://www.bookreporter.com/authors/cynthia-copeland" target="_blank">Cynthia Copeland</a> has a gift for discovering simple, timeless lessons. She did it when her children were younger with&nbsp;REALLY IMPORTANT STUFF MY KIDS HAVE TAUGHT ME and, more recently, in the tender, funny and irresistibly charming&nbsp;<a href="http://www.bookreporter.com/reviews/really-important-stuff-my-dog-has-taught-me" target="_blank">REALLY IMPORTANT STUFF MY DOG HAS TAUGHT ME</a>. Turns out, Cindy&rsquo;s life lessons don&rsquo;t only come from her family. Here, she shares the impact one book about the amazing accomplishments of some pretty exceptional women --- written by a woman who is pretty exceptional herself --- has had on her own life and her daughter&rsquo;s.</p>
<!--break-->
<hr />
<p>When my daughter, Alex, was eight years old, she decided two things: That someday she would attend Smith College, and that after college, she would have a job that involved making books. Now a publishing executive (and a magna cum laude graduate of Smith), Alex was home recently, looking through the bookshelves in her childhood bedroom. She was moving into a larger office with more shelf space, and was selecting some favorites to bring with her.</p>
<p>When she came upon WRITTEN BY HERSELF: Autobiographies of American Women by Jill Ker Conway, she held it up. &ldquo;I remember when you gave me this book for Christmas, Mom,&rdquo; she said. &ldquo;It was my senior year in high school, and I&rsquo;d just gotten my acceptance letter to Smith.&rdquo; We&rsquo;d always bonded over books, and at that time we were about to embark on another shared journey --- the privilege of being educated at a top women&rsquo;s college where intellect and professional ambition are valued above all else, where there are no restrictions (even implied) because of gender and where women both challenge and support one another.&nbsp;</p>
<p><a href="/reviews/really-important-stuff-my-dog-has-taught-me" target="_blank"><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/0761181792.jpg" style="height: 152px; width: 170px; margin-left: 6px; margin-right: 6px; float: right;" /></a>When I&rsquo;d arrived at Smith in the late 1970s, gender equality had a long way to go. Jill Ker Conway was Smith&rsquo;s first female president --- and one of my professors. She held a seminar in her home where we discussed women&rsquo;s history over tea and pastries, perched on the antique furniture in her living room. She was inspiring, elegant and brilliant. When Alex moved into Smith&rsquo;s iconic Chapin House in 2007, women had made significant strides but had much more ground yet to cover. Women&rsquo;s colleges were not only still relevant, but crucial in fostering leadership skills: One oft-quoted statistic revealed that while only two percent of women graduating from college had attended single-sex schools, 20 percent of the women in Congress were graduates of women&rsquo;s colleges, as were more than a third of women board members of Fortune 1000 companies.</p>
<p>A collection of 25 autobiographical essays edited by Conway, WRITTEN BY HERSELF: Autobiographies of American Women celebrates the accomplishments of exceptional women, from well-known trailblazers like Gloria Steinem (Smith College &lsquo;56) and Margaret Mead, to women whose stories aren&rsquo;t as familiar, like writer Zora Neale Hurston and physician Anne Walter Fearn. These women --- like the ones who studied with Alex and with me at Smith --- were innovators and leaders who believed in their own abilities to effect change and inspire others.&nbsp;</p>
<p>As Alex flipped through the pages before packing the book with her other favorites, she said, &ldquo;I remember feeling both awe-struck and inspired when I read this, and I started to understand the legacy of these women.&rdquo; She was realizing the sacrifices so many women had made in order to create the wealth of opportunities she took for granted.&nbsp;</p>
<p>And this Christmas? Alex got a signed edition of Conway&rsquo;s book, A WOMAN&rsquo;S EDUCATION. Perhaps if she has a daughter of her own someday, she&rsquo;ll pass it along.</p>
<!-- /content-field -->
Holiday Author Blogs 2014Wed, 31 Dec 2014 17:16:12 +0000emily117602 at http://www.bookreporter.com